"The court believes you represent an extreme danger to this young man," Hurley said.

Though he set a $125,000 bond in the child abuse case, Hurley ordered Mercado-Comacho held in jail until further order of the court.

Reading from an arrest report Wednesday, Hurley described allegations of abuse against Mercado-Comacho. The boy told an elementary school teacher that a facial bruise that spanned his left eye to his left ear came after he was struck for losing his hamster, Hurley said.

Broward Sheriff's detectives interviewed the child and found he suffered through numerous intentional acts that caused injury and, in certain instances, permanent disfigurement, the judge said.

The child was taken to the Nancy J. Cotterman Center, where he was interviewed and his injuries were examined and documented by a nurse. They included two scars on his lower back where he had been hit with a PlayStation cord and a burn scar on his lower abdomen, according to Hurley.

Mercado-Comacho also is accused of choking the boy, most recently on Feb. 3.

"He said when he'd take a bath, you'd hold his head under water in the bathtub and would choke and gag him while he was in the tub, and hold his head under water," Hurley told Mercado-Comacho.

"This isn't an isolated incident," said the judge, who added he was concerned that as the only witness, the child is "in extreme danger once you're out of jail."

Hurley appointed a guardian ad litem for the boy and a GPS monitor if the arrestee gains pretrial release.